engaging exercise, one kid at a time

Menu

Jimmy beats the odds!

A funny thing happened today in track and field that I wanted to tell you about. Our class was doing the long distance race, I think it was about 15 laps around our little track and the whole school let out to watch the race. A kid named Jimmy was in the race but he isn’t too much of an athlete so nobody pays him much attention when it comes to sports. The race begins and the pack starts to move at a nice even pace, just like you always tell us to do in long distance races. Everyone except Jimmy that is.

He bolts away from the pack right off the bat, moving at a much faster pace and for the first 5 laps, he builds up a huge lead on everyone. It’s very exciting for everyone watching, even the older seventh and eighth graders! They were all cheering him on but he starts to get winded and over the next bunch of laps his speed slows and his lead disappears. By lap 10 the next kids behind him catch up to him and he’s barely ahead at all. Then he did something that I had never thought of doing. He began to sprint as hard as he could for 50 meters or so and then stop to catch his breath. As soon as the kids behind him caught up, he would sprint ahead again then stop to catch his breath. The crowd started to go crazy! Everyone was cheering wildly with every “sprint then stop” Jimmy made. Of course this drove our Physical Education teacher bananas because just like you, he always teaches us that to do well in long distance races you must pace yourself and Jimmy wasn’t following the rules.

By the last lap the entire school was on their feet cheering Jimmy on and the PE teacher was desperately trying to think of a way to disqualify the boy. Jimmy was barely hanging on to the lead by a thread. At this point, after each sprint he would actually sit down for a few seconds to catch his breath. He was exhausted and every surge seemed to drain more and more energy from his body. Finally with one last push, as the whole school cheered on this underdog who had found a way to beat the system, Jimmy crossed the line! He had won! I know you say winning and losing isn’t the most important thing in sports but even I had to admit that it was pretty inspiring to see Jimmy hang on and win that race!

Well I just thought I’d share that story with you CL. See you at practice!

Post navigation

2 comments on “Jimmy beats the odds!”

Well, even though he didn’t use the proper technique for a long distance race, it was Jimmy’s heart that won him that race. I hope you learned how important determination and perseverance are in sports. There’s more than one way to skin a cat! Congratulations Jimmy!